Category: Crop Schools

While you’re in the field checking canola to see if it’s ready to be cut, or perhaps already swathing or harvesting it, it’s also a good time to assess the toll disease took on your crop.Sclerotinia, blackleg and clubroot can all cause premature ripening, as disease symptoms become more obvious at the end of the season, explains… Read More

If you’re looking out over your faba bean crop and can’t help but scratch your head over whether or not it’s ready to desiccate, you’re not alone.Desiccant timing for all pulse crops is tricky — too early and you risk destroying yield potential; too late and you’ve lost time, leaving the crop open to increased… Read More

The 2015 soybean crop has had its share of issues. From a late May frost that had many farmers replanting, to wet conditions that prevented replanting or late planting, and some zero-till beans that really struggled to get through heavy residue, it’s no wonder this crop is variable at best.While the window for most in-crop… Read More

We’re into the thick of the corn growing season, where you finally get to start seeing the real result of all the hard work that’s gone into this crop before now. The 2015 season has been a trying one for many Ontario growers as a great planting season gave way to too little, then too… Read More

Phosphorus deficiency is a common problem with corn planted into a rotation following canola.In its early stages, corn relies on mycorrhizae to help with the majority of phosphorus uptake. The trouble with corn following canola is that canola and other crucifer plants are not hosts for micorrhizae, so the beneficial fungi populations must be re-established.Despite this… Read More

Hot conditions can have an impact on both yield and quality in canola, making timing more important when swathing or straight-cutting the crop.Much of Western Canada has experienced a mid-August heat wave, with fields maturing rapidly in the heat. For canola, this means the time to cut can sneak up quickly.In this Canola School episode,… Read More

Heterodera glycines or soybean cyst nematode (SCN) was first identified in Ontario in 1987, after over 30 years in North America. It’s original introduction is believed to have occured in the late 1800s, when settlers brought soil from Asia to supply the proper bacteria for soybean root nodulation.“Of the ten major diseases of soybeans in… Read More

Soybeans are serious consumers of phosphorus, so it seems logical that supplying P fertilizer would be important for maximizing soybean yields, right?That’s wrong, at least in the short-term, according to research results in southern Manitoba.Researchers from the University of Manitoba and Manitoba Agriculture are comparing how soybeans respond to three rates of P2O5 fertilizer (20, 40 and… Read More

The canola industry has been among the most vocal advocates of Canada being part of a possible Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.So what’s in it for canola growers? According to industry estimates, canola exports could grow by $780 million if tariffs on Canadian canola oil and meal were eliminated across the TPP region.For this trade-focused instalment… Read More

Ask three farmers what the best row spacing is for soybeans and you might get three different answers, but in most soybean growing areas there’s been a trend back toward wider rows.As part of this Soybean School episode, Horst Bohner, soybean specialist with Ontario’s Ministry of Agriculture and RealAg’s Bernard Tobin discuss the driving factors in why growers… Read More